Cornwall won by 1 wicket
Cornwall 12 points Shropshire 4 points
Shropshire made two changes from the team which was victorious against Berkshire. Newcomer Ted Bayliss replaced the unavailable Adam Shimmons, whilst Steve Taylor made his Championship debut, with Bruce Thomason, dropping down to 12th man.
Very heavy rain on the first two days made play impossible, but a dry third morning gave the teams a chance to play a one innings per side game, with 12 points available to the winners. The original pitch was unfit, so the teams moved to an adjacent wicket which, whilst very wet, was just playable. Under such circumstances, the toss was crucial so Shropshire were disappointed when asked to bat by successful visiting skipper Tom Sharp. Their concerns were soon realised when, after Andy Gray and Adam Huxley had battled to 18, they lost six wickets for the addition of just 14 runs. All the batsmen found difficulty against the bowling of Rob Harrison and Martin Jenkin, but once again the batting frailties surfaced, with some injudicious shots contributing to several dismissals. Steve Taylor batted well, making 23, but only Adam Huxley (15) and Matt Tilt (14) reached double figures in a disappointing total of 83 all out in 42.3 overs. Even this would have been worse without a last wicket stand of 21 between Tilt and Anthony O’Connor, the second highest stand in the game. Harrison (6 for 53) and Jenkin (4 for 26) bowled throughout, both taking Championship career best figures.
With so few runs to play with, early wickets were crucial, and Steve Taylor and Anthony O’Connor obliged leaving the visitors on 25 for 4. The 5th wicket stand of 29 between 17 years old Matt Robins, and Chris Hunkin, proved to be the match winner. Robins was impressive, the only batsman to look in control, as he marshalled the remaining Cornish batting towards victory. Nevertheless, the introduction of Gray (3 for 18) and Bayliss (2 for 8) made life difficult, and Cornwall lost their 9th wicket still needing 8 for victory. Robins batted with a maturity beyond his years, as he coolly marshalled the strike to edge the visitors to 82 before last man Luke Caddy struck Gray for a huge 6 to win the game.
Both teams are to be congratulated on giving the watching spectators a pulsating match under such difficult conditions. The Shifnal groundstaff were also magnificent in getting the game played at all, given the amount of water which fell on the ground during the first two days.
Umpires - J Wilkinson and H Burgess
Scorers - CLW Barthorpe and B Holder
